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SAN FRANCESCO
DEL DESERTO
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San Francesco
del Deserto is located in the northern lagoon not far from Burano
and the western edge of the island of St. Erasmo.
Frequented
since the late Roman Empire the island however owes its name to the saint
patron of Italy San Francesco, which settled here after returning from his
trip to the Holy Land. The saint, who arrived by boat to Torcello,
preferred to move to a quieter island where perhaps there was already a
chapel and here built a hut (1220). After a few years after the death of
Francesco the patrician Jacopo Michiel, owner of the island, wanted the
construction of a church named for the saint. On March 4, 1233 Michiel ceded
the island to the Franciscans who built a monastery and permanently settled
until 1420 when, following the worsening climate in Laguna, they left the
island. It was then that it assumed its present name of San Francesco del
Deserto.
History of the island started again when Pope Pius II granted the island
to the Friars Minor Observant (1453) who restored the church, the convent
and built the Renaissance cloister. To them, a decision by Pope Clement
VIII, succeeded the Reformed Friars Minor (1594) that planting of cypresses
the island and restored the refectory. San Francesco del Deserto became
so an important spiritual seat of the Venetian Republic until its fall by
Napoleon Bonaparte (1797) whose troops gave themselves to the looting of
works of art kept on the island.
The monastery was active until 1806 when it was closed down following the
Napoleonic edict sanctioning the suppression of religious orders, following
which the brothers returned to Venice leaving the island that became a military
garrison and a powder magazine.
Passed to Austrians the island was donated by Francis I of Austria (December
23, 1856) to the patriarch of Venice, which granted it in perpetuity to
the Franciscan Friars Minor who returned two years later (May 31, 1858).
The friars restored the two fourteenth-century and Renaissance cloisters
and rebuild the church.
The island is reachable only by boat or from the island of Burano's
where a gentleman offers his boat to reach it daily. For your visit you
can ask even to the monks who live in San Francesco del Deserto. For those
who like it's also possible to stay for a few days in a monastery in exchange
for an offer.
Web Site: San
Francesco del Deserto |
